BLUEFIELD, Va. — It would be fine with Doug Marrs if the 2008 Graham High School football team was boring — as long as that leads to wins.

Marrs and his assistants led approximately 60 G-Men through a spirited workout Monday morning, the first day of high school football practice in the state of Virginia. West Virginia schools begin football practice next Monday.

Marrs said the next five days or so will be focused on "working on conditioning, the mental part and the physical part."

"This was a pretty good practice, this morning," Marrs said. "I knew it was a good practice when, about two minutes 'til 9, I looked out here and we were already lined up. We were ready when I came out of the dressing room."

That was a tribute to his veterans' willingness to volunteer for responsibility, he said. "We played with a bunch of young kids last year. They knew that, kind of, the monkey was on their back to be leaders, and they did a nice job this morning. ... They know what we expect."

He has the expectation that Graham will be able to control the ball and wear down defenses.

"I hope we're boring as can be," he said. "I'd really like to just be a boring football team, and just run, run. ... If you run a 12-play drive, and a 15-play drive, and a 10-play drive, it wears on (your opponent). It really does."

There is another option besides the run, and Marrs seemed inclined on Monday to throw that at the opposition as well.

The coach said, "We've got a quarterback (David Marrs) who can throw the ball. He threw for over a thousand yards last year, the most yardage we've had throwing since H.T. (Mathews). We can throw the ball a little bit. We've got to find us a couple of receivers.

"We didn't throw the ball much this morning, but we found a couple of kids this morning who we think might can catch a ball, so we can add a little bit more throwing to it.

"But it's fine with us to be boring."

Two important elements are in place for success, a couple of seniors reported at lunchtime Monday. Running back

Ronnie Scott said, "We've got some speed this year."

From the perspective of the line of scrimmage, Josh Halsey, an offensive guard, said, "We've got a lot of talent I think, up front, big guys, strong guys. I believe we'll be pretty good up front."

Halsey said a lot of work has taken place in the weight room. "Actually, the whole team has been in there all summer — well, all fall, all winter. We've been in there for awhile. So we've got some pretty strong guys."

Marrs said, "We feel like, right now, we're as strong as we've been in many, many years, just physically strong. But physically strong won't beat anybody. ... 

"That's just one part of many parts. You can be physically strong, and have poor technique, and you're going to get beat every time. That's just one part of the whole gamut.

"But we're much better strength-wise than we were last year."

Scott said, "We have a lot of younger guys who stepped up last year and played with us. As far as leadership (goes), the seniors are going to have to start it, but we've got a lot of younger guys who'll step up and fill that role as well."

"We know the plays, and all that," he said, adding that the real key to his team's success is "coming together as a team, a family."

— Contact Tom Bone at